From Worst To First: Offerpal Drives Zynga's New Game Offers

Yesterday Zynga added offers-for-currency back into its popular Facebook and MySpace games after a two month suspension following the Scamville saga..

Offers from just eight companies are included: Netflix, Discover Card, Blockbuster, HSBC Direct, Gamefly, Book of the Month Club, SnapFish and The New York Times. More will be added over time, each to be reviewed first by Zynga employees for adherence to a “strict set of standards for content and user experience.”

Clearly they are tiptoeing back into offers, and being very careful about how they’re doing it. That’s why it’s fascinating that they’ve chosen Offerpal Media to drive all of the current offers.

Offerpal was at the very heart of the Scamville series. Their CEO, Anu Shukla, kicked things off by losing her temper in responding to a question I had about offer scams (the video of that exchange is at the very bottom of the original Scamville post).

Within a few days Zynga, RockYou and MySpace had all said they would take steps to remove scams from Offerpal and others from their games. And Shukla was out of a job.

New CEO George Garrick promised to clean up Offerpal, saying “we will do everything we can within reason to lead the industry and set the example in these efforts.”

And apparently he has convinced Zynga that he’s done just that. It is an extraordinary turnaround for Offerpal, which has moved from the being the punch line in Silicon Valley jokes to (for now at least) the exclusive provider of offers to the largest social gaming company on the planet.